Rock Band Turns 5 Years Old! Stories From The Community

[hmxhenry]

Hey gang!

As mentioned on last night's livestream, Rock Band will be celebrating its 5th birthday next week! It's crazy to think it's already been that long and a lot has happened in that time.

We're planning on hosting an extra long livestream with some special guests and a few performances, but we wanted to involve the rest of the community in the celebration as well.

That's why we're asking that people use this thread to share your favorite RB memories. It could be about the first time you played RB, a favorite party / convention, friends you've made through playing together, an exceptional leaderboard victory... whatever means something to you. because that's the stuff that means something to us.

We're lucky to have one of the most dedicated, vocal, and all around best communities in gaming, and we've spent a lot of time with you over the last 262 weeks. Hearing your stories helps motivate us to try harder, keep us positive during crunch and hectic travel, and remind us that RB is a lot more than a game to a lot of people.

So feel free to post your favorite memories here! We'll try to share some of our favorites on the 11/19 livestream and we'll collect some of our own stories in a blog article next week. Thanks for all the support over the last 5 years!

-HMXhenry

[dog037]

Holy ****.

[tnevaker]

seems like only a year ago you guys were celebrating RB's 4th anniversary. my how time flies.

[Lawdog1521]

I remember carrying the ginormous box up the stairs and banging it through various doorways to get it to the TV. Then the unboxing, the glorious unboxing.

My first song was Maps on drums.

[Witticus]

I remember I first came across Rock Band at a friends house and had a blast singing Reptillia. I bought the game the next day and have been here ever since.

[LiveHomeVideo]

So we were playing Rock Band at a church one time. Some kid decided to pick a deathcore song, because nothing says loving Christians getting together like some Despised Icon. No one was stepping up on vocals, so I decided I could try. Next thing I know everyone's picking death metal so they can hear my failed attempts at death growls. Also, I was apparently the best guitarist in the party. So I got to showboat a ton that night.

Then the final song was Painkiller. I was on guitar. Somehow, don't know if it was all the caffeine from the energy drinks or the spirit of the Lord, but I FC'd the first solo. On Expert. I still cannot replicate that to this day.

That was an amazing night full of laughter, joy, and incoherent screaming.

[jibjqrkl]

where to start...


When I was twelve, some awful things happened in my life, things I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemies. Nothing anyone should ever go through. Things that still (and probably always will) affect me.

The way I dealt with this was with music. I started listening to music pretty much 24/7. I could simply drift off and enjoy beautiful works of art. Listening to lyrics that meant things to me. Great compositions. I didn't need another thing in the world.
The only problem was, that was all I did. Just lock myself up and listen.

But then, for Christmas, I got a present from my brother. It was Guitar Hero 2. And I was just amazed. Not only could I listen to great music, which is still my favorite thing to do, but now I could interact with it. He heard about the game from a friend of his. And he actually had that friend come over to play it with me a few times. Added me on XBL. And we were at about the same skill level. The rivalry between our scores was intense, the times we played co-op were just pure fun. Both of us started on easy, and by the time GH3 was about to be released we both just about 5-starred everything on expert. I finally started to smile a bit again. This went on with GH3, which had online gameplay. finally i could measure how good i was compared to a lot of other players. Finally started interacting with other people again. My friends list got bigger and bigger, and i was playing regularly and sending/receiving messages with people across the world. Around that time I met my boyfriend (well, he was just a friend back then, he became my boyfriend later on). And boy was he amazing at this game, he actually came in second place during the national World Cyber Games finals for my country with both GH3 and 4.

Then Rockband came out. Since i met someone who was into music and games as much as me, we obviously got it as soon as possible. And he visited me as often as possible so we could play together. The friend i used to play with switched to drums, and his sister would do vocals occasionally. The first time i played as a full band in 1 room. I'll never forget the fun we had that day.

I used to live with just my brother at that time and things were getting slightly out of hand with the two of us. He got addicted to drugs. Destroying himself and i just couldn't stay there anymore. Stayed at my boyfriend's parents for a while, until the 2 of us got a place together. (i was only 15, almost 16 at that time). Kinda lived my life the same as before that, although the contact with the guy I played with got broken because i moved away. Still had great fun with RB2, loved the soundtrack and couldn't ever stop playing. I was literally addicted to that game.

Skipping forward to RB3, got the keyboard bundle as soon as it came out. (that was actually the only way i could get the game, and instruments in general started to be really hard to get) bought an ION drum kit later on during RB3 and started playing on it pretty easily. My boyfriend kinda stopped playing the game altogether then, because he got tired of it i guess. (He could still kick my ass any day, even if he hasn't played in months. And quite a few people on here can confirm that i'm pretty damn good myself ). Around that time my personal life became very messed up again, couldn't get the memories out of my head from when i was 12, I already had problems with this, but they became worse every day. almost no sleep, depressions, literally days of non-stop crying.

Then came the best part about Rockband.
I found this.
I found this community.

I simply can not describe what this community has done for me. And how awesome all of you are. (Yes, even Cipher )

I had never seen people on the internet on any forum or comments section treat each other like this.
no "LOLOMFGUSUX!", no "URFACEISSTOOPIDSOIWIN!" but people actually having conversations, treating each other with respect, actually listening to what the other has to say instead of just trying to shout as loud as possible. (well, those things apply to most of the times anyway )

People actually having reasonable conversations and suggestions with employees of Harmonix that also just talk on here. Not like any forums where people shout: "Fix ur game you stoopid gimme money back haxorz are killing my pony! "

Even people's sexuality is not a problem here. people just come out on these forums and everyone says: "oh ok, cool". Imagine someone saying he was gay on the Call of Duty forums. yeah.


let me get an example thread here for that:
http://www.rockband.com/forums/showt...=230080&page=1

That is an advice thread i made here a while back. seeing as i got a lot of help from people here, I wanted to do something back. And although the first page has a few jokers in there (there will always be jokers), starting from post #30 you can really see that this community is there for each other.


And HMX cares about that, they care about the community. Just look at this week's DLC, people wanted a bit extra with the greenday and not only do we get pro upgrades, but some extra songs as well!

This community helped me a lot, and so did HMX. I've even said to some people on here what happened when i was 12. and a lot of other personal stuff. things i've only been able to share with my bf up to that point. I'm not even sure if i had been able to go on all these years if it wasn't for all of this.

Thank you guys, for giving a sad little girl a life.

[jibjqrkl]

I had some more to write in this, but I kinda need a break... I'll see if i add something later. Let me just say this though:

This community is the closest thing to a (pretty dysfunctional ) family that I have. And i hope this place stays forever, I know it will in my heart.


<3 Sarah

[dragoninforcer]

Well, might as well share my whole Harmonix story.

It was early 2007, I was in the 5th grade. We were outside for recess when I heard some of my friends singing a song I'd never heard. They told me it was called Message in a Bottle and was on a cool new game called Guitar Hero II. Curious as I was, I went home to see the song was on my parent's iTunes, to which I listened to the song. It was pretty good. Not too long after, my friend's brother came over my house with the same game I had heard of before. It had really piqued my interests, watching them play these intricate rhythms on Medium. I took a turn and went into the tutorial and played my first song on Easy, Surrender. This game was great. I played all of the first tier songs before he left with the game, bringing it back only one more time later where I had stepped up to Medium. I knew this was the game for me.

Fast forward to July, my 10th birthday. I got $120. A few weeks later, I went to Best Buy to spend my loot when I saw a paper taped to rack in the front of the store. "Sale: Buy Guitar Hero II Guitar Bundle, Get Guitar Hero I 1/2 off". This was a sign. Well, literally and figuratively. I quickly bought the games and the guitar for my PS2 and went on to play all the time. I spent a lot of time on Medium, trying to 100% my favorite song on GH2, Killing In The Name. I had memorized the entire chart by heart, amazing one of my friends by playing the song on his wireless guitar in the other room. Moving up to Hard, I barely stuck with it, as it wasn't much of a challenge. I had tried Expert mode, and next thing I knew, I was trying, and eventually succeeding, in defeating the mighty beast known as Jordan. Yeah, I got GH80's and GHIII not too much later, but there's no real need to talk about those.

I had begun to put myself in the GH community online where I heard about Harmonix's departure from the Guitar Hero franchise and their take on a full band game, Rock Band. Duh, I wanted this game more than ever. But I had no money. But that Christmas, oh I'll remember it forever. I had gotten an Xbox 360, and even my first guitar! I actually picked it up pretty quickly, with Guitar Hero actually aiding in me learning how to play. There was one more big box. The Rock Band full band bundle. The joy! Me and my brothers started a band in our basement and played the game all the time. They slowly started to lose interest in the game, while the entertainment had never died for me.

Soon after getting Xbox live, I bought a few songs. A few songs led to more, and I had quite a few DLC songs on my hard drive. The game became less and less popular among friends, with FPS's like COD taking over their interests. No one wanted to play rhythm games anymore. That is, except for me.

So I went on to get almost every Rock Band game, get all the instruments, and expand my still growing DLC collection. 5 years later, I'm still a loyal fan.

Harmonix introduced me to new music I had never heard. Everything I know about music now, I owe to Harmonix. They gave me the push that I needed to get out of my music comfort zone.

Thanks to Rock Band, I can play the guitar. I taught myself for two years how to play, purely by practicing. While everyone else I knew gave up on learning, I never gave up at it. I wanted to be big and talented like the bands in the game. Now, writing my own songs, I don't think I'd be as musical without Harmonix. Music means everything to me. As a source of entertainment, an escape from reality, and the basis behind my favorite game.

I can't believe it's been 5 years. 5 whole years I've spent supporting this game and the company behind it. I don't know where I'd be, or who I'd be, without this game. Funny when you think about video games changing lives, but my life revolves around music, and I'd never have such a diverse taste if it weren't for Rock Band. So thank you, Rock Band community for all the support you've given me, and thank you Harmonix, for bringing this game into my life.

I am forever grateful.

[DeferredGalaxy3]

I found out about Rock Band at a friends house and thought the guitar was some sort of new future-like toy. Found out it was part of an actual game. When it came out for Wii, I was trying really hard to save up for everything. I have already bought the Rock Band 2 disc for Wii, this was before I had the PS3 and XBox 360 because I never really bought anything like that, and then it took me a whole year to be able to get the instruments and play the game. When I got the instruments, my grand parents gave me Band Hero (I actually loved that game, too, only because of the custom songs.), and I found out the instruments were compatible with Rock Band 2. Then, in June 2010, I found out about the RBN because of Jonathan Coulton's website. Then, I tried to get some of the music I have made into the RBN. When Rock Band 3 came out, I bought it because I couldn't wait to play keys! I have been on the forums in 2010, but I only made like one post and it was because I was too busy with the character photo thing. (Seriously, I miss that feature.) So, here I am, now with a lot of DLC on across all three systems, with Blitz, Rock Band 3, and Rock Band 2. I have made some friends on the Rock Band Forums, and got my music noticed because of the RB forums and the RBN. I have also found out tons of new music because of all the DLC. Seriously, I love you guys!

PS I play Rock Band everyday, now, unlike other games I may get addicted to.